The United Soccer League has taken an historic step by recognizing the union formed by its players, sources tell The Athletic. The league made a voluntary recognition agreement with its players over the weekend, concluding a negotiation process that began this spring, according to sources with knowledge of the process. The league acknowledged that a majority of its players authorized the union, via signed cards, to be their exclusive bargaining representative.

These are the the first days of the new USL Players Association. It’s a victory for the players that turns around years of fruitless efforts to unionize lower-division soccer players. Earlier attempts in the decade fell apart due to disagreements between the work forces in the NASL and the USL. Now that the USL has become the sole second-division league in the United States, its players have succeeded in gaining representation.

It’s expected that the league’s first collective bargaining agreement (CBA)...